July 15, 2005

Tribal School Students Attend Engineering Camp

Campers from the Haliwa-Saponi Tribal School show Dr. Laura Bottomley their completed projects from the 2005 Middle School Summer Engineering Camp held at NC State University. (Photo: Jennifer Weston)

Summer for middle school students usually means a vacation from math and science studies. It is a time of swimming pools and long lazy days. But at North Carolina State University, students are diving head first into math and engineering.

	Dr. Laura Bottomley presents awards to students from the Haliwa-Saponi Tribal School following project competitions during the 2005 Middle School Summer Engineering Camp held at NC State University. (Photo: Jennifer Weston)

The Middle School Summer Engineering Camp is designed to give rising fifth through ninth graders experience in math, science and engineering in a fun and comfortable environment. The camp encourages the students to pursue math and science at an age when many lose interest or become intimidated by those subjects. This is especially true for students who come from underrepresented groups.

This year, for the first time, funding was available for 12 students from the Haliwa-Saponi Tribal School in Hollister, NC, to attend the camp as part of a program to promote math and science education in underrepresented groups.

“This was a great opportunity for our students to be exposed to a college campus and gain experience through the science projects at the camp,” said Dr. Ogletree Richardson of the Haliwa-Saponi Tribal School. “The camp was a very positive experience that would not have been possible without the funding provided by the College of Engineering. After attending the camp, our students are now thinking in terms of attending NC State. We hope to be able to have students attend the camp each year.”

Funding for the Native American students’ registration was provided by the Women in Engineering and Outreach Programs in the College of Engineering and the Recognizing Accelerated Math Potential in Under-represented People (RAMP-UP) program. Designed to promote and facilitate the teaching of problem-solving and inquiry-based mathematics to children in grades K-12, RAMP-UP focuses on raising interest and performance in math and science for women and minorities.

Activities at the camp were based on inspirations from the Survivor and CSI series on television. Students at the camp created and tested signaling devices, airplanes, solar ovens and lip balm. The camp culminates with competitions between various teams for awards based on performance, creativity and design of their projects. The middle school students spent the week with NC State professors, graduate students, undergraduate students and high school interns.

For more information about engineering summer camps, visit http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/summerprograms/index2.html.

— weston —

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